Lithuanian People

I am a 14-year-old student at Donelaitis Lithuanian Saturday School. Here, I am taught my Lithuanian culture and history. I read your editorial "A look at the tiger Gorbachev rides" and was moved by how you compared Lithuania's peaceful demonstrations to Azerbaijan's revolts. I hope Lithuania one day will be independent along with the other 14 republics. I thank you very much for writing the editorial in such a meaningful way for the Lithuanian people.

Mary P. Rudis devoted most of her life to helping the Lithuanian people: the needy families who lived under Soviet occupation, the dissidents who tried to break free and the refugees she helped bring to America. "There was a price over her head many times by the KGB, but she was just a very strong person and wanted to help as much as possible and have the dissidents reunited with their family," said Rev. John Kuzinskas of Palos Park, a longtime friend. Mrs....

Mary P. Rudis devoted most of her life to helping the Lithuanian people: the needy families who lived under Soviet occupation, the dissidents who tried to break free and the refugees she helped bring to America. "There was a price over her head many times by the KGB, but she was just a very strong person and wanted to help as much as possible and have the dissidents reunited with their family," said Rev. John Kuzinskas of Palos Park, a longtime friend. Mrs....

In 1937 and 1939, it was the basketball champion of Europe, but then the curtain dropped and darkness fell over the tiny Baltic country of Lithuania. The totalitarian Soviet empire and dictator Josef Stalin now considered it theirs, and for the next half-century, its people were oppressed and denied their rightful place on the world's stage. But never, never did it lose its basketball fervor. When the Soviet Union won the gold medal at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, its biggest stars...

Soviet authorities sent a column of tanks and paratroopers rumbling past an all-night session of the Lithuanian Parliament early Saturday morning in what witnesses described as the strongest attempt yet to intimidate the republic into abandoning its declaration of independence. After the column of paratroopers passed through the city Saturday morning, the Lithuanian president, Vytautas Landsbergis, said he had sent a telegram to Gorbachev protesting the show of force. "It is a war of...

Like other Americans, Pranas Jurkus and his wife, Ilga, planned to celebrate Labor Day by enjoying a quiet picnic with family members. Instead, their Labor Day observance turned into an Independence Day celebration-independence for the Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. For thousands of people in the Chicago area who trace their origins to the three small nations that were incorporated by force into the Soviet Union in 1940, President Bush's...

A Chicago native who grew up in Lithuania and who was imprisoned by the Soviets for his work with the underground Lithuanian press came back to Chicago Tuesday after a long campaign to free him. Vytautas Skuodis, 58, known as a defender of the Catholic faith in Lithuania and a hero to Lithuanians in Chicago and elsewhere, arrived at O`Hare International Airport Tuesday afternoon with his wife, Irena, and one of his two daughters. Skuodis was greeted by about 40 Lithuanians singing "Long...

While we Lithuanian-Americans are extremely appreciative of the excellent coverage of events in the Baltic states by the media, the May 12 article in the Chicagoland section contained a bit of erroneous information. P. Davis Szymczak wrote of elderly Lithuanians speaking better Russian than English. While the Soviet Union has focused unbelievable energies attempting to destroy the Lithuanian culture, Lithuanians have very proudly held on to their language, one of the oldest in existence.

Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev's professed regard for a law-based society in the Soviet Union is undermined by his refusal to negotiate with Baltic separatists and his use of paratroopers to occupy buildings in Lithuania, diplomats say. The problem stems partly from legal semantics, the diplomatic experts note, and partly from the pressure of entrenched hard-liners in the Soviet power structure. "There is no question that Gorbachev has come under heavy pressure from the conservatives...

A Lithuanian pharmacist strolled into a gift shop on Chicago's Southwest Side Friday and did her share to win freedom from Soviet rule for her country. Irena Frnskeviciute, 48, who is visiting relatives in Chicago, voted "taip," or yes in Lithuanian, in a historic but non-binding referendum that demands the Baltic country be given independence from the Soviet Union. Only Lithuanian nationals may vote in the election that is being done by telex. The tally of votes from the...

Like other Americans, Pranas Jurkus and his wife, Ilga, planned to celebrate Labor Day by enjoying a quiet picnic with family members. Instead, their Labor Day observance turned into an Independence Day celebration-independence for the Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. For thousands of people in the Chicago area who trace their origins to the three small nations that were incorporated by force into the Soviet Union in 1940, President Bush's...

Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev's professed regard for a law-based society in the Soviet Union is undermined by his refusal to negotiate with Baltic separatists and his use of paratroopers to occupy buildings in Lithuania, diplomats say. The problem stems partly from legal semantics, the diplomatic experts note, and partly from the pressure of entrenched hard-liners in the Soviet power structure. "There is no question that Gorbachev has come under heavy pressure from the conservatives...

A Lithuanian pharmacist strolled into a gift shop on Chicago's Southwest Side Friday and did her share to win freedom from Soviet rule for her country. Irena Frnskeviciute, 48, who is visiting relatives in Chicago, voted "taip," or yes in Lithuanian, in a historic but non-binding referendum that demands the Baltic country be given independence from the Soviet Union. Only Lithuanian nationals may vote in the election that is being done by telex. The tally of votes from the...

Soviet authorities sent a column of tanks and paratroopers rumbling past an all-night session of the Lithuanian Parliament early Saturday morning in what witnesses described as the strongest attempt yet to intimidate the republic into abandoning its declaration of independence. After the column of paratroopers passed through the city Saturday morning, the Lithuanian president, Vytautas Landsbergis, said he had sent a telegram to Gorbachev protesting the show of force. "It is a war of...

In 1937 and 1939, it was the basketball champion of Europe, but then the curtain dropped and darkness fell over the tiny Baltic country of Lithuania. The totalitarian Soviet empire and dictator Josef Stalin now considered it theirs, and for the next half-century, its people were oppressed and denied their rightful place on the world's stage. But never, never did it lose its basketball fervor. When the Soviet Union won the gold medal at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, its biggest stars...

A Chicago native who grew up in Lithuania and who was imprisoned by the Soviets for his work with the underground Lithuanian press came back to Chicago Tuesday after a long campaign to free him. Vytautas Skuodis, 58, known as a defender of the Catholic faith in Lithuania and a hero to Lithuanians in Chicago and elsewhere, arrived at O`Hare International Airport Tuesday afternoon with his wife, Irena, and one of his two daughters. Skuodis was greeted by about 40 Lithuanians singing "Long...

By Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, member of the Foreign Relations Committee, in a letter to a constituent angry that he does not support immediate U.S. recognition of an independent Lithuania | May 1, 1990

If I thought for one moment that official U.S. recognition of Lithuania's declaration of independence would result in codifying and sustaining such independence, I would promote recognition immediately. It is precisely because I believe that official recognition at this time could increase the degree of confrontation between Vilnius and Moscow and thus endanger what the Lithuanian people have thus far accomplished that I have counseled in favor of other courses of action, for the moment.